Bought this car from shady private seller. Thought I was going to be buying something that would get decent gas mileage as a commuter.
Two days after buying this car, the acceleration was acting up. It was hesitant to accelerate. I would floor the gas, but it seemed as if there was a restriction or bad fuel delivery.
I am decently mechanical so I replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires/modules (two modules and two wires), fuel filter, gave it an oil change, and drained and replaced transmission fluid.
It still had the problem
Went to auto store and consulted some good mechanics. Read online for similar problems and found out that it might be the Oxygen sensor that is connected to the air intake.
Cleaned that sensor and connections, replaced air filter and called it a day.
Had got better for a little bit, but then suddenly it started happening again. Now, things were getting worse. Acceleration on to the highway was very slow and dangerous. Couldnt really get the car to go faster than 55-60mpg.
Took it into the Kia Dealer to see what they thought. Found out that my timing belt was off. The belt slipped one notch. Replaced timing belt ($700). Took it out of the garage and it was doing the exact same thing.
By this time obviously I was frustrated and gave the mechanic and shop manager an earful. Shop manager took my car for a spin. Thought it had to do with the exhaust air flow, that it was clogged, but the mechanic said that it was pushing out exhaust just fine. They wanted to bring it back into the show, charge me another $150/hr to diagnose problem but SWORE that it was a transmission issue.
Luckily I know a little about transmissions and said no. I took it home, took off the Catalytic converter and found out that all the ceramic in the converter was busted up and blocking the airflow of the exhaust.
Solution: Took a hammer and a metal pipe and busted out all the ceramic! Put the now empty catalytic converter back on the car and it drove just fine.
Id say I spent in total about $900-1000 to do something that would have cost about $10 for replacing rusted bolts.
To get an OEM catalytic converter you are going to spend about $600. $800 from the dealer. They were not able to be found from a junk yard and I didnt have a welder or the time to use an after market Catalytic Converter. So its still the old empty one.
It you have sluggish problems with your Kia, I recommend that you get car ramps and check this first. After doing more and more searching on the internet, I found out that this is a common problem with this car.
Bought this car from shady private seller. Thought I was going to be buying something that would get decent gas mileage as a commuter.
Two days after buying this car, the acceleration was acting up. It was hesitant to accelerate. I would floor the gas, but it seemed as if there was a restriction or bad fuel delivery.
I am decently mechanical so I replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires/modules (two modules and two wires), fuel filter, gave it an oil change, and drained and replaced transmission fluid.
It still had the problem
Went to auto store and consulted some good mechanics. Read online for similar problems and found out that it might be the Oxygen sensor that is connected to the air intake.
Cleaned that sensor and connections, replaced air filter and called it a day.
Had got better for a little bit, but then suddenly it started happening again. Now, things were getting worse. Acceleration on to the highway was very slow and dangerous. Couldnt really get the car to go faster than 55-60mpg.
Took it into the Kia Dealer to see what they thought. Found out that my timing belt was off. The belt slipped one notch. Replaced timing belt ($700). Took it out of the garage and it was doing the exact same thing.
By this time obviously I was frustrated and gave the mechanic and shop manager an earful. Shop manager took my car for a spin. Thought it had to do with the exhaust air flow, that it was clogged, but the mechanic said that it was pushing out exhaust just fine. They wanted to bring it back into the show, charge me another $150/hr to diagnose problem but SWORE that it was a transmission issue.
Luckily I know a little about transmissions and said no. I took it home, took off the Catalytic converter and found out that all the ceramic in the converter was busted up and blocking the airflow of the exhaust.
Solution: Took a hammer and a metal pipe and busted out all the ceramic! Put the now empty catalytic converter back on the car and it drove just fine.
Id say I spent in total about $900-1000 to do something that would have cost about $10 for replacing rusted bolts.
To get an OEM catalytic converter you are going to spend about $600. $800 from the dealer. They were not able to be found from a junk yard and I didnt have a welder or the time to use an after market Catalytic Converter. So its still the old empty one.
It you have sluggish problems with your Kia, I recommend that you get car ramps and check this first. After doing more and more searching on the internet, I found out that this is a common problem with this car.
- mplsaveragejoe, Minneapolis, MN, US